Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito are reunited for a third time to fabulous effect in The War of the Roses. This is a dark, disturbing comedy of marital trauma and revenge, which couldn't be more different from their sunnier outings in Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. Douglas and Turner, in career-best performances, are the materialistic, consumer-driven Roses of the title (Oliver and Barbara) whose seemingly perfect marriage has soured beyond repair; their only point of contact is their meticulously maintained dream house, which Douglas bought and Turner decorated to perfection. When Turner gets a taste of financial independence, she asks Douglas for a divorce--all she wants is the house and everything in it (aside from his clothes and shaving kit). He laughs at her and she punches him in the face. Things only get worse from there, as nasty divorce proceedings (with DeVito as Douglas's lawyer) give way to insults, threats, ruined dinner parties and pet abuse. And through it all, the Roses begin destroying their beloved home and its contents, just to spite each other. DeVito, who also directed, takes Michael Leeson's blacker-than-black screenplay and gives it a hyper-stylised spin, complete with skewed camera angles and wonderfully expressionistic cinematography (by Stephen Burum) as Douglas and Turner barricade themselves in their house, both refusing to give an inch. Shocking for a mainstream studio picture, with its unsympathetic protagonists, escalating bitterness and disturbing finale, Roses is a poisonously funny valentine to both marriage and 1980s materialism, tempered only by its framing device as a cautionary tale. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com
It's not quite as clever as it tries to be, but The Game does a tremendous job of presenting the story of a rigid control freak trapped in circumstances that are increasingly beyond his control. Michael Douglas plays a rich, divorced, and dreadful investment banker whose 48th birthday reminds him of his father's suicide at the same age. He's locked in the cage of his own misery until his rebellious younger brother (Sean Penn) presents him with a birthday invitation to play "The Game" (described as "an experiential Book of the Month Club")--a mysterious offering from a company called Consumer Recreation Services. Before he knows the game has even begun, Douglas is caught up in a series of unexplained events designed to strip him of his tenuous security and cast him into a maelstrom of chaos. How do you play a game that hasn't any rules? That's what Douglas has to figure out, and he can't always rely on his intelligence to form logic out of what's happening to him. Seemingly cast as the fall guy in a conspiracy thriller, he encounters a waitress (Deborah Unger) who may or may not be trustworthy, and nothing can be taken at face value in a world turned upside down. Douglas is great at conveying the sheer panic of his character's dilemma, and despite some lapses in credibility and an anticlimactic ending, The Game remains a thinking person's thriller that grabs and holds your attention. Thematic resonance abounds between this and Seven and Fight Club, two of the other films by The Game 's director David Fincher. -- Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a shrewdly successful businessman who is accustomed to being in control of each facet of his investments and relationships. His well-ordered life undergoes a profound change however when his brother Conrad (Sean Penn) gives him an unexpected birthday gift that soon has devastating consequences. There are no rules in The Game...
Using a faulty thriller for his soapbox as an outspoken critic of China, a devout follower of the Dalai Lama, and an influential supporter of Tibetan freedom, Richard Gere resorts to the equivalent of propagandistic drama to deliver a heavy-handed message. In other words, Red Corner relies on a dubious strategy to promote political awareness, but director Jon Avnet appeals to the viewer's outrage with such effective urgency that you're likely to forget you're being shamelessly manipulated. Gere plays a downtrodden TV executive who sells syndicated shows on the global market, and during a business trip to China he finds himself framed for the murder of the sexy daughter of a high Chinese official. Once trapped in a legal system in which his innocence will be all but impossible to prove, Gere must rely on a Chinese-appointed lawyer (played by Bai Ling) who first advises him to plead guilty but gradually grows convinced of foul play. Barely attempting to hide its agenda, Red Corner effectively sets the stage for abundant anti-Chinese sentiment, and to be sure, the movie gains powerful momentum with its tale of justice gone awry. It's a serious-minded, high-intensity courtroom drama with noble intentions, but one wonder if it has to be so conspicuously lacking in subtlety. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
In 1979 The China Syndrome was the movie everyone was talking about thanks to the enormous publicity generated by the real-life Three Mile Island accident that not only mirrored the events depicted in the film but occurred just twelve days after the movie's release. Nominated for four Academy Awards - Best Actor (Lemmon) Best Actress (Fonda) Best Original Screenplay Best Art Direction The CHina Syndrome remains ""as explosive as the metaphor of its title"" (Los Angeles Herald Exa
The story tells of a mother who covers up a murder to protect her teenage son from being implicated. But someone knows and soon she is sinking deeper and deeper into a mire of blackmail and extortion.
After receiving a scholarship to an exclusive prep school working-class teen David Green (Fraser) becomes a star athlete and wins the attention of a beautiful debutant (Amy Locane). But the ties of his newfound friendship are broken when a student reveals the secret David has tried to conceal - he is Jewish. Now David must take the most important stand of his life one that will touch the lives of many and forvever change the course of his future.
A Biographical film charting the life loves and losses of legendary baseball player George Herman ""Babe"" Ruth. The Babe begins with Ruth's days in a Baltimore boys' school where Brother Mathias takes Babe under his wing and teaches him to play baseball. The film then follows him through his phenomenal career and chaotic personal life.
When a professional couple who have lived & worked together for many years finally decide to marry, their sudden betrothal causes many unexpectedly funny and awkward difficulties.
Anastasia (Dir. Anatole Litvak 1956): The world will never know if the real Russian princess Anastasia met her death at the hands of red Russian rebels or if she lived on. Based on fact this story is set against the mystery surrounding this elusive puzzle. Ingrid Bergman portrays the destitute woman who remarkably resembles the true Princess Anastasia. She is chosen by two Russian courtiers to masquerade as the princess in order to gain ten million pounds. Meeting scepticism
It's not quite as clever as it tries to be, but The Game does a tremendous job of presenting the story of a rigid control freak trapped in circumstances that are increasingly beyond his control. Michael Douglas plays a rich, divorced, and dreadful investment banker whose 48th birthday reminds him of his father's suicide at the same age. He's locked in the cage of his own misery until his rebellious younger brother (Sean Penn) presents him with a birthday invitation to play "The Game" (described as "an experiential Book of the Month Club")--a mysterious offering from a company called Consumer Recreation Services. Before he knows the game has even begun, Douglas is caught up in a series of unexplained events designed to strip him of his tenuous security and cast him into a maelstrom of chaos. How do you play a game that hasn't any rules? That's what Douglas has to figure out, and he can't always rely on his intelligence to form logic out of what's happening to him. Seemingly cast as the fall guy in a conspiracy thriller, he encounters a waitress (Deborah Unger) who may or may not be trustworthy, and nothing can be taken at face value in a world turned upside down. Douglas is great at conveying the sheer panic of his character's dilemma, and despite some lapses in credibility and an anticlimactic ending, The Game remains a thinking person's thriller that grabs and holds your attention. Thematic resonance abounds between this and Seven and Fight Club, two of the other films by The Game 's director David Fincher. -- Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
James Bridges (Urban Cowboy, Bright Lights, Big City) directed this 1979 film that became a worldwide sensation when, just weeks after its release, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurred. Jane Fonda (Klute, Julia) plays a television news reporter who is not taken very seriously until a routine story at the local nuclear power plant leads her to what may be a cover-up of epic proportions. She and her cameraman, played by Michael Douglas (Wall Street, American President), hook up with a whistleblower at the plant, played by Jack Lemmon (Save the Tiger, Missing). Together they try to uncover the dangers lurking beneath the nuclear reactor and avoid being silenced by the business interests behind the plant. Though topical, The China Syndrome (produced by Douglas) works on its own as a socially conscious thriller that entertains even as it spurs its audience to think. --Robert Lane
Midnight Express: Brad Davis and John Hurt star in this riveting true story of a young American's nightmarish experiences in a Turkish prison and his unforgettable journey to freedom. Busted for attempting to smuggle hashish out of Istanbul, American College student Billy Hayes (Davis) is thrown into the city's most brutal jail. After suffering through four years of sadistic torture and inhuman conditions, Billy is about to be released when his parole is denied. Only his inner courage ...
Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a shrewdly successful businessman who is accustomed to being in control of each facet of his investments and relationships. His well-ordered life undergoes a profound change however when his brother Conrad (Sean Penn) gives him an unexpected birthday gift that soon has devastating consequences. There are no rules in The Game.
In Edmond Rostand's swashbuckling yet bittersweet comedy, the characters experience emotions on an heroic scale. The play's hero, Cyrano, is a magnificent wit whose pride marks a deep insecurity about his appearance - specifically, his abnormally large nose. His compelling love for the beautiful heroine, Roxanne, is the motivating force behind all the action in the play. With words from his own poet's heart, Cyrano wins Roxanne for another man, the tongue-tied but handsome, Christian.
Three families that are best friends head to their secret retreat when WW3 seems to be nearing. The adults arrive at the retreat and must endure the stress to come while the children are separated from the adults and have their own troubles along the way. This is a great story in the fact that many of these types of movies deal in violence while this one deals in the psychological aspect of the situation.
As the third season begins, Mulder is missing and assumed to have died in the New Mexico desert. When the agents are reunited they are forced to run from forces within the government who wish to silence them permanently and who may also be responsible for deaths in both their families. The conspiracies only deepen as the agents encounter a group of women who claim to have been abducted, an alien with miraculous healing powers and Alex Krycek.
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